A Proud People: The Contents of National Pride and its Consequences for Polarization

How do polarized societies find common ground? The Common Ingroup Identity Model (CIIM) suggests that conflict may be reconciled when competing groups (e.g., two political camps) recognize their shared identity (e.g., that all partisans share one national identity). In this project, however, I revisit four theoretical and empirical limitations for why such shared national identities are unlikely to mitigate partisan and social polarization in contemporary Western democracies. Therefore, I turn to national pride as an alternative strategy for finding common ground. Being similar to an identity, pride may offer the gluing function that the CIIM expects identity to provide. However, pride may circumvent the limitations of national identities, thus reducing polarization more effectively. Using large-N, representative data, I first map the contents of national pride. I then examine its consequences for polarization-relevant outcomes. By examining the relationship between an identity and an emotion, this project contributes theoretical and empirical insights into central concepts of political psychology research. Moreover, it may provide a quick, scalable, and cost-efficient intervention for reducing polarization in various Western democracies.